"Wait, stop!" said Larten as they approached the building Holmes was staying in.
"What is it?" asked Ryu.
"I saw Woody and the others go in there just now", said Larten. "We may have to wait until they leave. We don't want to cause a paradox".
"What paradox?" said Meta Knight. "They never reached that part in their story".
"No, but neither did they seem to recognise us when we first met, which, if we had been there with them, they would have", said Larten.
"The only ones they seemed to recognise were the unicorn and her friends".
"Well, while they're in there, why not take a look at the castle?"
suggested Sora. "We're probably going to be going there to warn them they've made a mistake anyway..."
"No real point", said a familiar voice. "They're probably about to start the Lockdown, if they haven't already. I see you've made a few friends recently; Sora".
"Riku!" said Sora, running over to the source of the voice to see his friend accompanied by five strangers. "What do you mean Lockdown? Have you come to rescue Kairi too?"
"Rescue Kairi?" said Riku, surprised.
"The guards arrested Kairi for summoning the Heartless, and they're going to execute her for it! We have to tell them they've made a mistake!"
"They've made a mistake alright, but not the one you'd think", said Sirius. "They were probably told that a Keyblade Wielder was responsible for this because they could use the Heartless to draw a Keyblade wielder out into the open, but didn't anticipate two - or, in this case, three, Keyblade wielders to be in the city".
"My thoughts exactly", said another voice. "In fact, the ones commanding the Heartless and governing this city are working together.
They also had an Instrument of Time in their possession before it was stolen by the six of you. The other six came here from some point in the future where they met, or rather will meet, my previous guests, hearing half the story of their travels here from them before the building they were in was destroyed and they were forced to flee to the past".
"Now you're just showing off", said Edward. "How did you..."
He was cut off by a deep sound like the ringing of a huge bell.
"The Lockdown", said the newcomer.
"Now that the first level has been locked, we should retire to the second level", said a smartly-dressed man in the castle. "But we could leave someone in the first level to capture the thieves when they come".
"I've gathered some other beings willing to help us, Mr. Shaw", said Doom. "We can seal them in the outer layer to deal with intruders and stay on the inner layer ourselves".
Twelve beings entered the room, lead by a dark cloud-like creature with a light blue eyes, a jagged light blue mouth and black cogs emerging from its surface. Following it was a small humanoid creature in a harlequin-like outfit and a white mask with three holes, a small yellow and black mouse-like creature, two Toon weasels, a small white humanoid creature with a carved pumpkin for a head, a scientist with bolts through his large head, a small green and yellow bipedal turtle with a tall blue ponytail, a small round blue creature with two feet, no arms and five leaves on its head, a small green insectoid creature partially concealed in a floating chrysalis and a purple and white mushroom with arms, legs and a face.
"Some of these beings seem powerful, but the others all seem either incompetant or weak", said Shaw. "What makes you think they can stop them?"
"Xehanort has already supplied several powerful Heartless, and Vanitas, Clockwerk and Bun-Bun have volunteered to stay in Level 1 as well"
"But we have to go and save Kairi!" shouted Sora. "And we can't do it without the key! Don't you care what happens to her?"
"Have you even considered the wider scale of things here?" said Brom sternly. "Those Instruments could mean the difference between repairing the timestream and letting it fall into the hands of people like Xehanort and Solidor. We can't go risking them on daring rescues".
"But..." began Sora.
"Suppose you do storm into the castle armed with Golden Sword and the Key to the Past, what happens then?" asked Brom. "You may be strong, but there's no way you could fight all of them by yourself when the guard is that high. I'm sorry, but saving one girl isn't worth risking two Instruments falling into the hands of people like him".
"What about you, Riku?" asked Sora. "Are you going to let them execute her?".
Riku didn't answer. After a few seconds, it was someone else who spoke.
"Tell you what, let's see how strong they are", said Sirius.
"What do you mean?" asked Heller.
"We'll have a little sparring match", continued Sirius. "Their team versus ours. If we win, we take the Sword of Timelines and the Key to the Present back to headquarters. But if they win, they can take the sword and the key to save the girl, and we help them".
"What?!" said Heller. "But..."
"I agree", said Gaara. "The key won't work when we need it to anyway because Solidor is currently in the Timeless Realm. Use the key and we'll just let him out. But most of his temporal machines won't work without the key".
"And you're saying we should let him have it back?", said Heller.
"I'm saying, if Crepsley's group is strong enough, we defeat him now", said Gaara. "If they can defeat us, then the twelve of us together should be strong enough to defeat them".
"Could be risky", said Batman. "We don't know what he's set up in there. It might be a trap".
"It's definitely a trap", said Meta Knight. "He wouldn't insist on executing Kairi at a set time, despite the fact he knows it wasn't her who stole the Key or the Gauntlet unless it was a trap".
Sora glared at diminutive swordsman for a second, but he went on.
"But we will walk into it nonetheless".
Riku grinned, summoning his Keyblade. "Only if you can beat me".
Sora summoned his Keyblade as well. "I'll be your opponent, Riku", he said. "I thought you of all people would know that".
"We protected the sword from a dragon, a fifty-foot plant monster, a powerful wizard and a demon", said Zero. "We're not about to lose to you".
"We'll see about that", said Gaara, the sand on the desert floor beginning to move.
"Show me your strength", said Ryu, getting into his usual fighting stance.
"Fine", said Heller, a large, red blade forming out of his arm. "Let's get this over with".
"Even if you are some kind of vampire, you're still a Muggle in terms of magic", said Sirius. "Try not to lose too badly".
"Same goes for you", said Larten. "Considering you couldn't hope to match my speed".
"Time for me to show you some moves", said Taskmaster.
"Likewise", said Batman.
"Then that leaves you as my opponent", said Meta Knight as he and Brom
drew their swords. "Prepare yourself!"